DISSIDENCE // AD 1943

 

Silence was the rule of the age. To speak against the ruling party was to risk ones life. Delusion had infiltrated the minds of the masses, and where delusion did not hold, fear persisted. A few young students at the University of Munich could no longer bear the lie. Alexander Schmorell and Hans Scholl created the White Rose, an anti-Nazi dissident group to write and distribute leaflets around campus. Schmorell did much of the writing and his words were closer to the ancient prophets than to the other revolutionaries. In the six fliers The White Rose distributed, the plea was twofold: first, to denounce the crimes of Germany and reclaim the heritage of the German people in Christianity; second, for all Germans to assert constant resistance in any way possible. Dissent was to play out in every area of life: engineers were to sabotage all mechanical and intellectual areas active in the war; artists and writers were to interrupt the narrative by cultural subversion; the common man and woman was to cease donations of material toward the war effort to reduce supply. "Engage in passive resistance- resistance! Wherever you may be!" 

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Christ said to be gentle as doves, but also clever as serpents. As the Prophet Daniel refused to cease prayer when it was decreed, and St John the Baptist rebuked the sins of Herod, so too are all members of the faith to dissent the powers that defy the will of God. When evil has said to stay silent, Christians proclaim truth; when evil demands the approval of lies, they dissent. The Apostle Peter summarized this in a phrase: we must obey God rather than man.

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As the sins of the Germans reached their full measure, Alexander viewed the only means of redemption through both repentance and penance: "But if this catastrophe is to be turned to our salvation, then only by these means: to be purified by suffering." He would be the first to partake. In 1943, he would be captured and sentenced to death for treason. In a letter to his parents just prior to his execution by the state, Alexander penned three simple words for Christian dissidents in all times: Vergesst Gott Nicht.

Don't forget God.